Paralympian strokes toward success in sport and study | UniSC | University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia

Juggling her rigorous training schedule with a part-time communications degree at UniSC is a delicate balance, but one that has helped propel Emily forward in her career as an elite athlete.

Swimming, for Emily, is more than just a sport. It’s been her life for more than 15 years, a journey that has taken her from her small hometown in Victoria to representing Australia in three Paralympic Games.

Emily first made waves in the Paralympic world at just 16 years of age, competing in the Rio 2016 Games where she finished fourth in the 50m freestyle.

In the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, Emily and her team brought home a silver medal in the Women's 4x100m Freestyle event, and a bronze medal in the Women's 4x100m Medley.

Last year, Emily competed at the Paris Paralympics, where she felt “really confident” thanks to the training she put in during the three years prior.

“I feel like Paris was really different for me, I had a good shot of trying to put my name out there and get on the podium,” she says.

“I was really happy with how I’d been training since Tokyo, and the results spoke for themselves; I won two medals in my three races and achieved three PBs (personal bests).”

Emily credits much of her success in Paris to the changes she made in her training after the Tokyo Games, when she made the difficult decision to leave her home in Victoria and relocate to the Sunshine Coast, far from her family and close-knit community.

Her move was motivated by a desire to push herself further as an athlete.

“It was a tough decision because my whole family is in Victoria, and I’m super close to them,” she says.

“I knew the Sunshine Coast had one of the few Paralympic swimming programs in Australia, so I wanted to see what that was like.

“Also, UniSC offered some really great courses I hadn't seen before…and their high-performance sport program was a great one, so everything pointed in the direction to come here.

“The people I've met along the way in the past three years has helped change me as an athlete and helped me progress to achieve what I achieved in Paris.”

In addition to being a High Performance Student Athlete (HPSA), Emily chose to study communications at UniSC, majoring in social media, due to her love of media, film, and the ever-changing nature of the digital world.

“I’m a movie buff, and I’ve always had an interest in the media industry… I love social media and the behind-the-scenes of it all,” Emily says.

Her studies provide a counterbalance to her intense training, offering her a path to explore once her swimming career eventually winds down.

“I know that swimming won’t last forever, so I wanted to have something to fall back on,” she says.

Emily is one of three sisters, triplets. Born deaf in her left ear and with a right arm limb deficiency, Emily says it was her desire to keep up with her two able-bodies sisters and do “everything they did” that first led her to swimming.

“I did all the sports growing up – netball, athletics, basketball – and when my sister, Kaylee, joined our local swimming club, I decided to join as well,” she recalls.

There, her first swimming coach introduced her to the idea of para-swimming, and what being a para-athlete could look like.

“Swimming kind of just fell into my lap, so it’s a pathway that kind of chose me… I fell in love with it,” she says.

Growing up in a small town, Emily often had to compete alone as the only para swimmer in her region.

“I had to race by myself a lot, which was tough at the time, but it taught me a lot about perseverance,” she says.

Watching the 2012 London Paralympic Games and seeing the success of athletes like Ellie Cole further ignited a fire in her.

“I went home and told my parents I wanted to be like Ellie Cole, I wanted to be a Paralympian,” Emily says.

Now, Emily hopes she can inspire others with a disability to get into sport. She’s already seen the impact of her visibility.

“Sometimes people recognise me, or say they’ve seen me swimming on TV, which is kind of crazy,” she says.

“I don’t want to be an inspiration because I have a disability… I want to be an inspiration because I’m a good athlete.

“We still have a long way to go in terms of breaking down stereotypes, but the Paralympic Games are starting to get the attention they deserve.”

Looking ahead, Emily has set her sights on the 2028 LA Paralympic Games, but she’s taking it year by year.

“The goal is LA, but there’s a lot that can happen in four years,” she says.

“For now, I’m focused on enjoying the journey and continuing to improve.”